Nick's Christmas Present
by Vol lady
Summary: Nick and Heath go to town to pick Jarrod up from the train, and Nick does not get into trouble. So he gets an early Christmas present. And this is a present for all the Nick lovers.


Nick's Christmas Present

Nick slapped him on the back and said, "Heath, my good man, what do you say we spend a little extra time in town today, play a little poker, and then pick up Jarrod from the two forty-five from San Francisco? Kick up our heels a little?"

Heath almost groaned. "Nick, the last time we did that, you lost a lot of money and ended up in jail, and I spent the day in the dry goods store and having tea with the seamstress. Not my idea of the best day I ever spent."

"Well, that was an aberration."

"A what?"

"An aberration. Big word, means it was unusual."

"Jarrod taught you that word."

"Yeah, once upon a time and sometimes it comes in handy," Nick said. "Come on, we can have some fun and I promise I won't end up in jail and you won't end up having tea with the seamstress. After all, we don't have anything that needs to be sewed and if you're with me, I'll behave myself."

This time Heath did groan. "I don't believe that for a minute, Nick."

"So, Jarrod will bail us out if we need him."

"Did you ever consider that one of these days, he might just leave us in jail?"

"He wouldn't do that, because he knows Mother would bail us out and if she didn't, Audra would."

"Do you really want to risk Mother or Audra coming in to bail us out?"

"Jarrod will do it, and we won't go to jail in the first place. I'll be good. Come on. We haven't had a blow out in a long time, and since it's a Thursday afternoon and not a Saturday night, we'll be all right."

Heath sighed. "Only if _you_ tell Mother and Audra we're doing it. I'm not telling them."

"Consider it done! Saddle the horses!"

The whole conversation had been at the corral where they watched a new mare settle in. Nick turned and headed for the house. With a sigh, Heath headed to get horses saddled for himself, for Nick and for Jarrod, too. He had serious doubts that Nick was going to make it to two forty-five without some kind of trouble erupting, but frankly, he wanted a bit of a blow out himself. They'd been sticking to the ranch or to business elsewhere for several weeks and hadn't let go at all. It was time.

They rolled into town about an hour later, when it was close to noon. They stabled the horses at the livery and immediately headed for Harry's saloon. They knew there was always a poker game going by this time, and they were right, there was one. With two seats at the table available, they asked to claim them and sat down with three other men, all ranchers they knew.

"What brings you fellas to town?" Nick asked as one of the other men dealt.

All three men said, "Poker" at the same time.

Nick and Heath both chuckled and anted up.

"Got no sheep in this game, Nick," one of the other men said.

"One time!" Nick said. "One time!" But he said it with a grin on his face and everyone laughed. The sheep episode had passed long ago, and he could laugh about it now.

He could laugh about anything today. The weather was good, he had a pocket full of money, the prettiest girl in the place went to fetch beer and sandwiches for him and Heath, and Nick felt lucky.

They played straight through until it was almost two thirty. Heath was amazed that not only had Nick won some money – he hadn't gotten into any trouble at all. In fact, no one at this table had given grief to anyone else. "Hm," Heath said out of the blue as he looked at his hand.

"Got a new tell there, Heath," one of the other men said.

No one believed it was a tell. Heath said, "No, not really," and folded his hand. "It just dawned on me that Nick hasn't thrown any punches today."

"Nick's not gonna throw any punches today," Nick said. "Nick is one happy man gonna go home with more money than he came in with."

"You better call this the last hand," Heath said. "The train will be in in fifteen minutes."

"Just a second," Nick said, played out the hand and won it. With a self-satisfied laugh, he raked in his chips and cashed them in. "Thank you, gentlemen," he said as he and Heath got up from the table.

"Yeah, yeah," the banker in the game said and waved him off.

Nick pocketed his money, still laughing, as he and Heath went out the door. They immediately ran into Sheriff Madden, who took the laugh away.

"I need you two," he said flat out.

"What for?" Heath asked.

"I got a wire from the train's last stop," the sheriff said. "They told me to expect some kind of trouble on the train and I need a couple deputies with me. Mine's home with a bad head cold."

Sheriff Madden plunked badges on the front of their shirts. Nick said, "Aw, Fred," with a screwed up expression. It had been such a good day until now.

Heath said, "Well, we're going to get Jarrod anyway, Nick. Might as well do a favor for our friend the sheriff."

"I knew you'd see it that way," Sheriff Madden said, and he led the way off to the train station.

"Did they tell you what was happening they were worried about on the train, Fred?" Heath asked as they walked along.

"No, just to be ready," Sheriff Madden said. "Have you two boys been playing poker?"

"Yep," Nick said. "I came away a winner."

"Well, no wonder I wasn't called in to break up a fight," the sheriff said.

"Aw, come on now, Fred," Nick said. "Here I'm doing you a favor and you're giving me a hard time. There's plenty of times I've played poker and not gotten into trouble."

"I know, Nick," the sheriff said, "but the last time you picked Jarrod up from the two forty-five, he had to pay your fine because you and Jubal Conrad had at it in the street."

"Not today, not today," Nick said. "So far it's been my lucky day and besides, I promised my little brother here I'd behave myself."

Sheriff Madden looked at Heath, who shrugged. "Well," the sheriff said, "let's see if we can handle this problem on the train without it coming to blows."

"It's probably nothing, Fred," Nick said.

"Yeah, Jarrod's on this train," Heath said. "He'll take care of it."

Nick grinned at Heath. "Unless I keep being lucky and Jarrod's the one in trouble. That would definitely make my day."

They reached the railroad platform, not knowing what to expect from the train, except that it would not likely involve their brother. He would be traveling in first class, and any trouble was not likely to come from the fancy people. Nick just wished he hadn't been roped into being a deputy. Heath didn't mind as much – now he was just curious as to what was going on that they had to wire the sheriff about from the last stop.

The train came to a halt, and the sheriff and the Barkleys looked up and down for whatever the trouble was going to be. Where it came from a moment later floored them – first class! Two men in business suits came out, the one in front coming down the stairs backwards and then flying out onto the platform when the man behind him out and out decked him. The sheriff and the Barkleys headed up there, worried for a minute that it was Jarrod lying on the ground, but they were wrong.

Jarrod was standing on the steps, glaring down at the man on the ground. Jarrod's lip was bleeding and there was a nasty gash on his left cheek, and he was hopping mad. The sheriff and the Barkleys stood staring, startled for a moment, but then Nick broke into a big grin. His suave, sophisticated lawyer of a brother was in a fist fight on a public train.

Jarrod looked at them and pointed at the man now trying to stand up. "Fred, arrest this guy," Jarrod said.

Heath grabbed the man and held him.

"What for?" Sheriff Madden asked.

"Assault for one thing," Jarrod said. "Drunk and disorderly for another. He was harassing a woman on the train. I've had to ride herd on him since the last stop and he took a fist to me about two miles back."

Jarrod came down from the train, and Nick took hold of his arm, grinning.

"What?" Jarrod said to his younger brother, trying to wrench his arm away, but Nick wouldn't let him go.

"Seems like we better go off to the jail to sort this out, don't you think, Sheriff?"

Sheriff Madden saw the twinkle in Nick's eye, and he understood what was going through Nick's head, but he didn't like it. "Well, maybe we oughtta – "

"No," Nick said, cutting him off. "My big brother's been fighting on a train. Seems to me that's disorderly conduct at least."

Jarrod turned purple. "Nick – "

Heath turned his head away, starting to laugh. He didn't want Jarrod to see that.

Nick gave Jarrod a shove. "Come on, let's go to the jail to sort this out. Don't worry, big brother, I'll pay your fine."

"Nick, I'll get this out of your hide when we get home," Jarrod said.

Heath tried to stop grinning as he herded Jarrod and the other man in front of him, but he couldn't. Fortunately, Jarrod didn't notice, and as they walked, another fight did not break out.

Walking behind them, Sheriff Madden said in a very low voice, "Nick, if this went like Jarrod said, I can't arrest him."

"I know that, Fred," Nick said just as quietly. "I just want Pappy to sweat a little. He complains every time he has to pay a fine for me. I want him to see me paying a fine for him for a change."

"I can't charge him a fine, Nick," the sheriff said.

"You don't have to. Just say you're doing it, I'll cough up the ten dollars, and I'll let him in on the joke when we get home."

Sheriff Madden sighed. "He's not gonna like the joke, Nick."

"Probably not," Nick said. "He'll probably deck me as soon as I tell him, but it might be worth it."

"And what's your mother gonna say?"

"She'll probably deck me too," Nick said, but he did not lose his grin.

Sheriff Madden still looked unhappy.

"Come on, Fred," Nick said. "Do you know how many years I've been waiting for this chance?"

The sheriff sighed in resignation, but he said, "I'm gonna regret this."

Nick gave him a slap on the back. "No, you won't. As soon as I fork over some money and we walk out that door, you're gonna laugh. Consider it your Christmas present to me, and mine to you."

Sheriff Madden thought about that, and he finally gave in with a small smile. "You might be right."

"Thank you Fred, you've just made my day," Nick said, smiling, and as he, Heath and the sheriff marched his older brother off to jail.

The End


End file.
